Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE NIGHT by HERBERT TRENCH

First Line: I PUT ASIDE THE BRANCHES
Last Line: AND THE WORLD SANK AWAY. . . .
Subject(s): NIGHT; BEDTIME;

I PUT aside the branches
That clothe the Door in gloom;
A glow-worm lit the pathway
And a lamp out of her room
Shook down a stifled greeting.
How could it greet aright
The thirst of years like deserts
That led up to this night?

But she, like sighing forests,
Stole on me -- full of rest;
Her hair was like the sea's wave,
Whiteness was in her breast.
@3(So does one come at night, upon a wall of roses.)@1

As in a stone of crystal
The cloudy web and flaw
Turns, at a flash, to rainbows,
Wing'd I became -- I saw,
I sang; -- but human singing
Ceased, in a burning awe.
Slow, amid leaves, in silence --
Rapt as the holy pray --
Flame into flame we trembled,
And the world sank away. . . .



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